Geek vs Life

Moral choices plague any game and so far people seem to think it’s nothing but trouble.  Personally, gaming for me is about immersion into a game and with Infamous it’s the choices that really force you into the character. Sure, there is a certain level of hilarity when you’re faced with two things that seem so far-fetched that, when narrated by the main character, make it seem like choosing what type of sandwich you want could alter your life forever.

Even so, a large saving grace in Infamous is the oddly decent plot, told by narration and comic book cut scenes. You play as Cole, a free runner (read: monkey) delivery man who actives a ball of electro-death and lives to tell the tale. Gifted with powers to do crazy stuff with all things electrical, he runs off to save the city from super-villainous gangs and solve the classical whodunit.

The dev team put a lot of time online to explain how groundbreaking the movement and climbing is, so I figured it was a good place to start. Yes, it’s true you can nimbly scale buildings without difficulty, and yes, it is also true that you can grind rails and cables at incredible speeds. You can even hover. The pieces are all there to fit together into a neat package, but instead it fits like a live chicken in a toaster. None of the parts fit into each other; making a transition from one mode to another (say a cable to another cable), is almost a guaranteed miss. And the hover abo;oty is extremely limited, making on the fly course corrections impossible. I feel like another month or two might have helped to work the kinks out, but after all the press coverage of the climbing programming I don’t think they were trying too hardto fix it.

With in-game variable difficulties, missions can be played by just about anyone. The main missions give you a feeling of the city and its people. Each main character has some development, with the villains getting full stories and distinct personalities to make them seem that much more evil. Although the total variety of side missions is limited, each one gives a sense of accomplishment when you see the gangs slowly lose control of the city. Missions range from saving people if you’re good, to killing cops if you’re bad. You see the effect of actions take root quickly. The only drawback is that once you start down the path of good or evil, it becomes hard to break away from it, especially since powers are locked in to your rank as well as which good or evil missions you have completed.

Speaking of the powers, I believe it goes without saying that shooting bolts of lightning has a certain allure to it. Even though the powers aren’t as varied as they could be, they pack a punch and enough jazzy effects to make them enjoyable. With sources to recharge from everywhere in the city, it’s fun to experiment with heavy hitting moves while on the prowl for baddies.

Infamous is great for exactly two plays, one for each alignment. There isn’t much to collect past upgrading your power course and story items; the first is ridiculous and the second definitely worth it for story buffs. Both can be done in a main game play without much deviation. High marks, try it out.

A long time ago, before superheroes ruled the silver screens and iPods were social norms, Sam Raimi directed horror films. Now of course, these aren’t your new age “horror” films which often are more gore than substance. No, back then the point was to frighten, not to induce vomiting. Raimi cemented his indie/cult cred when he wrote, directed, produced and even lent a hand in creating visual effects for the iconic film “Evil Dead”. Some speculate that he molded Bruce Campbell out of clay and gave him life, no one knows. When Raimi was done with “Army of Darkness” the third film in the Evil Dead Trilogy, he began to write his next horror flick. Sadly the horror movie bubble died and he went on to different things like producing Hercules and directing lesser known films like Spider-man.

With production on Spider-Man 4 being delayed until 2011 to make room for a new breed of Marvel heroes like Iron Man, Raimi needed a project to keep himself busy. Sam Raimi presents: “Drag me to Hell.”

The story starts with a young boy in Mexico who soon discovers that stealing from gypsies is bad, especially when they curse you to be dragged to Hell. Remember boys and girls: stealing is bad. Fast-forward some 40 years later in L.A. where loan officer Christine Brown, played by Alison Lohman, must refuse a loan extension to an elderly gypsy woman (Lorna Raver). Brown, who is looking for a promotion, must act tough and despite being begged and pleaded with, refuses to budge on her decision. Gypsy woman curses Brown, let the show begin.

The film is filled with such sight gag that sometimes it is almost a mockery of itself. No one said the movie had to be serious though, sure worked for Army of Darkness after all. Yes, there are jumps and frights and plenty of them. To me, that’s what a horror movie should be. Enough with so called “horror movies” that try and treat dismemberment and evisceration as art; gore is gore, akin to shock sites on the internet. If the film was just fright, it would be one thing, but the humor is actually half the movie as well. Maybe that’s why funny man Justin Long (Mac guy)was cast as Lohman’s boyfriend Clay.

All in all, a movie with twists and enough curve balls to keep you entertained. If not for the firghts, then at least the laughs.